Many of us have been frustrated to discover that the pins for emmett’s Screwless Heart Gears are not PLA compatible. They are too stiff, and in my experience, attempting to force them in can crack the pins and damage the piece itself.

So I set about trying to design some alternative pins for PLA. My first attempt was to make flexible end tabs, but while this worked, the gear heart axle is too short to support this approach. In the next attempt, I altered the internal structure of the tip of the pin to make it more flexible for PLA and redesigned the protrusions.

A little valentines day fun. Unfortunately, it is printed in ABS, not C12H22O11, so I wouldn’t recommend eating it. This is a derivative of schmarty’s 8-bit heart.

In less time than it takes to eat a candy sucker, you can print a replacement candy top for the stick it came on! I inserted the stick from mine into the hole in the print as it was building, to help cause it to adhere.

I really enjoyed Eric Young’s design of his Secret Heart Box, but I didn’t relish hunting down all the required parts to put it together. One thing I learned from designing the Blossoming Lamp is that it’s entirely possible to 3D print complex, preassembled mechanisms without breaking the 45-degree rule. I took it as a challenge to show that it’s possible even with something as seemingly complex as this locking heart box. See the video here: youtu.be/PPqLB-bv4gY

UPDATE: By popular demand, I’ve modified the customizer code so you can now add words to the top of the heart. Make sure your valentine knows it’s just for them.

Every Thursday is #3dthursday here at Adafruit! The DIY 3D printing community has passion and dedication for making solid objects from digital models. Recently, we have noticed electronics projects integrated with 3D printed enclosures, brackets, and sculptures, so each Thursday we celebrate and highlight these bold pioneers!

Have you considered building a 3D project around an Arduino or other microcontroller? How about printing a bracket to mount your Raspberry Pi to the back of your HD monitor? And don’t forget the countless LED projects that are possible when you are modeling your projects in 3D!

The Adafruit Learning System has dozens of great tools to get you well on your way to creating incredible works of engineering, interactive art, and design with your 3D printer! If you’ve made a cool project that combines 3D printing and electronics, be sure to let us know, and we’ll feature it here!